Stereotypes In The Kitchen Summary

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Stereotyping has been around for as long as people have been around. It's a way that people use to classify other people for better or worse. Often times the word stereotype has negative connotations and often people consider stereotypes to be false traits of a group, but what about the times when a stereotype accurately represents a member of the group being stereotyped. Does the stereotype hurt them? What if someone breaks the stereotype?

Out of the four stories, I have chosen ​Tur​keys in the Kitchen by Dave Barry and The Myth​ of the Latin Woman by Judith Cofer. Both talk about stereotypes but in a different way. Barry addresses men and women and their roles in the kitchen from a man's perspective, while Cofer addresses the stereotypes

that are associated with being a Latin american woman in society. Both are very negative on how they feel towards their specific stereotypes. But what they consider to be a negative stereotype that identifies them others might consider a positive trait that they represent themselves by. As an example, the quote from Cofer states,“Mixed cultural signals have perpetuated certain stereotypes—for example, that of the Hispanic woman as the "Hot Tamale" or sexual firebrand. It is a one dimensional view that the media have found
Nick Templeton Writing II
John Murray October 18th
What’s wrong with the stereotype?
easy to promote. In their special vocabulary, advertisers have designated "sizzling" and "smoldering" as the adjectives of choice for describing not only the foods but also the women of Latin America” (p. 105).
Cofer basically describes some traits of Latin women that she says the media focuses on.

From the tone of the essay, she thinks of these as negative traits of her people, but can she really speak for all of the latin women about this stereotype? What about all the Latin women who embrace the idea of being a “Hot Tamale” and look at it as a point of pride, as part of their culture? As a culture, Latinos are known to be more fun and more relaxed compared to other cultures. There is nothing wrong with being more low key and enjoying life. This does not have to have a negative meaning; certain cultures such as Japan and Korea are known to be more uptight and workaholics who never relax, and they may also appreciate the qualities that Latin Americans represent, without having judgments about

them.
Cofer is frequently upset by the attention that her heritage gains based on its relaxed image. She feels that others are implying that Latinas are not serious or worth anything beyond the fun that they have. Cofer has personal reasons for not liking the stereotype-- she always felt like she didn’t belong, and wanted to be proper and polite and reserved. However, not all Latinas feel this way, and Cofer may be stereotyping her own people by using this essay to represent all Latinas. Many Puerto Rican women may celebrate the “island travelling with them,”(pg 104) and hold on to the aspects of their culture that they find pride in. In fact many people all around the world go to Puerto Rico to relax and enjoy her culture because it is something people really like.
Another example of Cofer taking stereotyping personally is when she describes being mistaken for the waitress at a restaurant in Miami, when she was actually going to present her poetry instead. She was very upset because it reminded her of “what I had to overcome before anyone would take me seriously” (pg. 108).This could very well have been an innocent mistake by someone in the restaurant, and did not mean that Cofer was racially inferior. Many women and men of all races become waitresses or waiters, especially struggling artists and musicians, and it does not mean they should be embarrassed about their jobs or feel lower on the economic scale.
Similar to Coffer’s essay, Dave Barry’s ​Turkey in the Kitchen discusses stereotypes as well.

Barry uses his story about Thanksgiving and reflects on our society’s views about gender. Just as Coffer is attempting to speak for all Latinas, Barry is trying to speak for all men. Not all men care about not being good in the kitchen, and not all women are good at cooking, but Barry generalizes. Though he writes in a comedic tone, he is still stereotyping men and women. For example, he states, “I would no more enter that kitchen than I would attempt to park a nuclear aircraft carrier, but my wife, who runs her own business, glides in very casually and picks up ​exactly the right kitchen implement and starts doing ​exactly the right thing without receiving any instructions whatsoever” (pg.73). Just because his wife happens to be good in the kitchen does not mean that every wife in America is good at cooking, or even wants to be good in the kitchen. In many cases the man does cooking in a lot of

households.
Another example of Barry stereotyping in his story is when he discusses a man,
“who got his training in shop class, learning things he would never need to know for the rest of his life..” (pg. 74). In this passage , Barry claims that men are useless in the kitchen and wouldn’t even know what a turnip is. Millions of men are excellent cooks and professional chefs, and have respectable reputations in society for their “cooking skills.” The fact that Barry calls men “scum” for not being able to help in the kitchen is a very outdated concept. Just because he feels like a scum for not being able to cook does not mean that all men or husbands feel that way.
Also, many men take pride in the skills that they have outside the kitchen, and being able to work and earn money for their families; they are not offended at all by not being a helper with dinner. It might easily be true that some women love to cook and prepare meals for their families, as it is a way of showing their love and caring, and they feel pride and value from supporting their families in this way. Why should that image be a negative stereotype? If the work is balanced in a marriage, does it really matter what the roles are? Barry seems to think so.
Both Barry and Coffer appear to be creating their own stereotypes in these essays. They assume that stereotypes always are seen as negative traits, when in fact, the traits could be positive, and even respected by others. They both take their personal feelings and generalize for the entire population that they are discussing, which itself is the definition of stereotyping.